The 20 Minutes Before ANA Dreamliner Emergency Landing

By Yoree Koh and Yoshio Takahashi

Courtesy of Kenichi Kawamura

Local fire trucks arrived at Takamatsu airport after Boeing Dreamliner jet operated by All Nippon Airways made an emergency landing on Jan. 16.

At 8:11 a.m. Wednesday, an All Nippon Airways flight using Boeing Co.’s revolutionary Dreamliner jet took off to clear skies from southern Japan. It was a short one hour and a half service to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. But about 20 minutes into the flight, Kenichi Kawamura, one of the 129 passengers on board, suddenly lost his breath.

He said it felt like the floor was pushing up against his feet and the newspaper in the seat next to him dropped to the ground with a loud thud. It felt like the plane that was climbing upwards moments before had abruptly changed its mind, he said. “All of a sudden, it was like ‘swoosh,’” he told JRT a few hours later.

A photo taken by Kenichi Kawamura, a passenger of All Nippon Airway’s Tokyo bound flight NH692 on Jan. 16. An alarm signaling a smoke problem related to the battery prompted the flight on Boeing Co.’s 787 jet to make an emergency landing at Takamatsu airport.

Five minutes earlier, at 8:26 a.m., flying at 30,000 feet, an alarm went off in the cockpit signaling that something was wrong with the battery, according to ANA. The alarm was marked “smoke,” according to ANA. No one on board was able to see smoke, according to Mr. Kawamura and ANA. The main battery circuitry is located in a separate compartment beneath the jet’s cockpit. But soon after a “burning like smell” began to waft through the cabin and cockpit, said ANA during a hastily arranged press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday.

“It came from the front. It smelled like burning plastic,” said Mr. Kawamura, a 36-year-old aide to a Japanese politician.

At 8:41 a.m., the pilot called the control tower at Takamatsu airport, a local airport located on the southern island of Shikoku, according to the transportation ministry. He requested for permission to make an emergency landing — about 400 miles from Haneda International Airport in central Tokyo, the flight’s scheduled final destination.

Then the pilot’s voice streamed through the cabin intercom. “There is smoke coming from the aircraft. But there is nothing abnormal with the mechanics. We will make an emergency landing at Takamatsu airport,” said the pilot, according to Mr. Kawamura.

Courtesy of Kenichi Kawamura

The pilot of the All Nippon AIrways flight that made an emergency landing in Takamatsu on Jan. 16 talked to passengers after everyone had safely evacuated from the aircraft via emergency slides.

After the announcement, “you could feel the mood was uneasy,” said Mr. Kawamura. “Everyone pushed down their fears and sat in their seats in silence.” The cabin crew moved around briskly but with calm.

Six minutes later at 8:47 a.m. the plane landed safely. When the emergency door flew open Mr. Kawamura said he could see a burst of white smoke, but didn’t know where it came from. Seven of the plane’s eight emergency evacuation slides shot out of the exits.

The head of the cabin crew in a loud voice started saying “Evacuate! Leave your belongings and escape,” according to Mr. Kawamura. They were told to step away from the aircraft.

All 129 passengers, six cabin attendants and the two pilots slid down the open chutes onto the isolated runway. One 68-year-old man complained of back pains afterward and was sent to the hospital, but was later said to be fine. Two other passengers suffered minor abrasions from the slide.

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